1. Field
An outdoor device for an air conditioner is disclosed herein.
2. Background
Air conditioners are apparatuses that maintain air within a predetermined space at a most proper state according to a use and purpose thereof. In general, such an air conditioner may include a compressor, a condenser, an expansion device, and evaporator. Thus, the air conditioner has a refrigerant cycle in which compression, condensation, expansion, and evaporation processes of a refrigerant are performed. Thus, the air conditioner may heat or cool a predetermined space.
The predetermined space may be variously provided according to a place at which the air conditioner is used. For example, when the air conditioner is provided in a home or office, the predetermined space may be an indoor space of a house or building. On the other hand, when the air conditioner is provided in a vehicle, the predetermined space may be a space in which a person rides.
Such an air conditioner may be operated in a cooling mode or a heating mode. When the air conditioner operates in the cooling mode, an outdoor heat exchanger may serve as a condenser, and an indoor heat exchanger may serve as an evaporator. On the other hand, when the air conditioner operates in the heating mode, the outdoor heat exchanger may serve as an evaporator, and the indoor heat exchanger may serve as a condenser. A flow adjustment valve that adjusts a flow direction of the refrigerant may be provided in the air conditioner to convert the operation of the air conditioner into the cooling mode or the heating mode.
The air conditioner may include a gas/liquid separator provided on an inlet-side of the compressor to separate a gaseous refrigerant of the refrigerant passing through the evaporator and introduce the gaseous refrigerant into the compressor. The air conditioner may further include a receiver that stores at least a portion of the condensed refrigerant.
The gas/liquid separator and the receiver may be integrated with each other. The present Applicant filed an application with respect to an integrated structure of a gas/liquid separator and a receiver, Korean Patent Application No. 10-2012-0077520 (hereinafter “related application”), filed on Jul. 17, 2012 and entitled “Air Conditioner”, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
According to the related application, the receiver may be provided below the gas/liquid separator, and thus, the refrigerant may not be smoothly supplied from the receiver to the gas/liquid separator. As the refrigerant passing through a supercooling heat exchanger is supplied into a gas/liquid inflow tube having a relatively small volume, noise due to flow of the refrigerant may occur.